{"630934":{"#nid":"630934","#data":{"type":"news","title":"This BioTrac Platform is Helping First Responders Stay Safe","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAfter witnessing the intensity of the wildfires in Australia over the course of late 2019 and early 2020, it\u0026rsquo;s easy to see why firefighters need help gauging their vitals when working in extreme conditions for long periods.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Overexertion injuries are the leading cause of injury for firefighters and can trigger cardiac events which comprise over half of the deaths in the field,\u0026rdquo; said\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EZack Braun\u003C\/strong\u003E, a current\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.omscs.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EOnline Master of Science in Computer Science\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(OMSCS) student and cofounder of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.firehud.co\/\u0022\u003EFireHUD\u003C\/a\u003E, the first\u0026nbsp;physiological monitoring device designed to mitigate the risk of overexertion.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECreated by Braun and two other Georgia Tech graduates, FireHUD is a wearable technology that prevents heat stress by sending alerts to a cloud-based platform when a user has an abnormally high body temperature. The alert helps commanders keep track of their team\u0026rsquo;s vitals and gives them the ability to instruct users to seek safety before ever needing medical help.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe technology is currently used by firefighters in 12 departments with\u0026nbsp;120 FireHUD Bands now in use. Bolstered by a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and a secondary grant with the United States Air Force, the startup is now looking to expand its reach and deliver 500 additional devices for military evaluation and use.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;FireHUD Bands require no configuration and will send alerts when necessary \u0026ndash; allowing users to be notified before injuries occur, but to be able to focus on the task at hand,\u0026rdquo; said Braun.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAdditionally, FireHUD\u0026rsquo;s design focuses on safety through customization by utilizing a machine learning algorithm that modifies its thresholds for individual users.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We developed an algorithm for \u0026lsquo;exertion\u0026rsquo; that quantifies the current state of physiological strain for each individual user. This exertion metric is a zero to 100 percent value that allows commanders to easily glean the current workload of each responder in their team \u0026mdash; removing the need to know individual heart rate thresholds.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA History in Georgia Tech Startup Programs\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBraun was a year away from graduating with a Bachelor\u0026rsquo;s of Science degree in Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(ECE) when a conversation with a family friend about firefighting safety concerns would instigate the launch of the startup.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I came up with the original idea for a heads-up display after talking to a family friend at the Atlanta Fire Department. There I learned about firefighting in general as well as the lack of situational awareness that occurs in such a chaotic environment,\u0026rdquo; said Braun.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith this inspiration, Braun recruited the help of long-time friend and fellow ECE student,\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ETyler Sisk\u003C\/strong\u003E. Together, they joined Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECREATE-X\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;Idea-to-Prototype class as a means to work on the original prototype while earning class credit. The duo then won the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/inventureprize.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInVenture Prize\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;in 2016, a competition program that fosters entrepreneurial endeavors for undergraduate and recent graduates from Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith this recognition and funding under their belts, the team recruited fellow classmate,\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EJoe Boettcher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;to join them. Over the course of their undergraduate academic careers, the team of three was involved in a number of additional Georgia Tech startup incubation programs including three CREATE-X courses and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/startup-launch\u0022\u003EStartup Launch.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBraun said, \u0026ldquo;All three of these programs provided mentorship and support in order to develop FireHUD\u0026rsquo;s prototypes and launch the company upon graduation in December 2017. On our last day before graduation, we won a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation to continue development full-time.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENow, after graduating with their B.S. degrees from Georgia Tech, Braun and Boettcher are continuing their education as\u0026nbsp;OMSCS students.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EUnderstanding Firefighters\u0026rsquo; Experiences\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThanks to the SBIR grant, the FireHUD team was able to rapidly prototype and send 30 heads-up display units to select fire departments to trial. However, they were met with mixed responses and pivoted their design based on feedback to an arm band after the heads-up display was found to be distracting.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHowever, this was not the first time that wearable technology in firefighting has been met with mixed responses.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gvu.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/625193\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E[Related News: Firefighters Have Mixed Response to Wearable Tech for Emergency Work]\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;In parallel with these trials, we attended a conference called the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.firehero.org\/event\/firefighter-physiological-monitoring-2018\/\u0022\u003ENational Fallen Firefighter Foundation (NFFF) Physiological Monitoring Technology Summit\u003C\/a\u003E, which was crucial in pivoting the company towards a product that was more usable and adoptable. The keynote presentation given by a fire chief who talked about his department\u0026rsquo;s experience with physiological monitoring and the problems current physiological systems encounter,\u0026rdquo; said Braun.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENine months later, the FireHUD team finished development of the first commercially viable physiological monitoring platform tailored to first responders which is now called the BioTrac Platform.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe BioTrac Platform is made up of three parts:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003Ethe BioTrac Band, which is the wearable device,\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003Ethe BioTrac Gateway, which is the long-range radio transceiver,\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003Eand the BioTrac Web Application, which is the real-time software dashboard.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe FireHUD developers are now working with a\u0026nbsp;local contract manufacturer in Georgia to begin scaling the development for the BioTrac Platform\u0026rsquo;s hardware and plan to begin production by April 2020.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We plan to sell to three markets that suffer injuries and deaths from heat stress and overexertion: first responders, the military, and industrial facilities,\u0026rdquo; said Braun.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Three Georgia Tech OMSCS students have created the first viable biometric platform that is helping prevent overexertion injuries and death."}],"uid":"34540","created_gmt":"2020-01-13 14:15:03","changed_gmt":"2020-01-13 15:37:13","author":"Kristen Perez","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-01-13T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2020-01-13T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"630929":{"id":"630929","type":"image","title":"FireHUD","body":null,"created":"1578924262","gmt_created":"2020-01-13 14:04:22","changed":"1578924262","gmt_changed":"2020-01-13 14:04:22","alt":"Four firefighters stand in full gear in front of a red training facility.","file":{"fid":"240171","name":"IMG_0696.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_0696.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_0696.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1445041,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/IMG_0696.jpg?itok=aCnr_iKn"}}},"media_ids":["630929"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"431631","name":"OMS"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"183188","name":"FireHUD"},{"id":"121521","name":"OMSCS"},{"id":"180764","name":"entrepreneurial"},{"id":"506","name":"alumni"},{"id":"10635","name":"john p. imlay"},{"id":"3778","name":"jr."}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Officer I\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKristen Perez\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["kristen.perez@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}